Ethnic minority communities in the UK face clampdown on visits from members of their family living abroad. Six national organisations – Citizens Advice, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association, the Law Society, the Immigration Advisory Service and the Legal Action Group – have written to the home and
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Deepcut widow faces deportation
The widow of a black soldier from Deepcut army barracks, who was shot in suspicious circumstances last year, now faces deportation to Jamaica. Last Boxing Day, Mario O’Brien Clarke was shot dead in Hackney while he was off duty. The army maintains that his death is not connected to the other four suspicious deaths of
MEP calls for immediate halt to deportations
London MEP Jean Lambert has called for an immediate halt to deportation of asylum seekers following the breakdown of European negotiations on minimum standards for deciding asylum claims. Home secretary David Blunkett and fellow Justice ministers meeting in Luxembourg last week abandoned their meeting without reaching agreement on how EU members should decide asylum claims.
Australia signs refugee deal with Iran – will Europe follow?
The government of Iran has signed a deal with Australia agreeing, for the first time, to accept back rejected asylum seekers. The deal could set a precedent for Europe where there are about 10,000 Iranian asylum seekers, whose claims have been rejected. On 12 March 2003, Phillip Ruddock announced that the Australian government had signed
Abbas Amini gets leave to remain but continues protest
Abbas Amini, an asylum seeker from Iran who has stitched up his ears, eyes and lips, is continuing his protest on behalf of all asylum seekers, though the Home Office has been refused permission to appeal against the original decision to allow him indefinite leave to remain. Amini’s protest, against the way he and other
We will stay here and die say refugees at frontier
A spokesman for 700 Roma refugees stranded on the Macedonian border says they are prepared to die where they are – if refused the right to cross into Greece. Doctors are already warning that, without proper shelter, food, water and medical care, deaths could occur at any time among the refugees which include 270 children,
Crisis of black underachievement in London schools
Nearly 2,500 delegates participated in the second conference on the underachievement of black pupils in London schools on Saturday 10 May 2003. Opening the conference, Diane Abbott MP said that GCSE pass rates of black pupils were getting worse and now bordered on catastrophic. She urged the conference to seek practical solutions and develop a
Campaign success for Ugandan rape survivor
A Ugandan woman, whose rape by state agents was described by an adjudicator as ‘simple and dreadful lust’, has won the right to stay after a successful public campaign. Rose Najjemba, who claimed asylum in January 2001, less than four months after her ordeal at the hands of Ugandan soldiers, was denied protection under the
Action needed to provide for Europe’s minority ethnic elderly
Urgent action is needed to prevent a looming crisis in provision for Europe’s minority ethnic elderly, according to the first report of a major Europe-wide research project, covering ten countries, into the problems of ageing and ethnicity. Launched at the European Parliament, Brussels, on 8 May, the report Minority Elderly Care in Europe shows how,
Freedom to hate?
New research by Article 19 shows how the press is biased against asylum seekers. But change will not come about unless we go beyond liberal pleading. As long ago as the 1970s, the anti-racist movement learned an important lesson. Then, as now, we were faced with newspapers that warned of an invasion of immigrants, of